When Georgie Staley charged a couple of her volunteers with looking into the NSW Community Sports Awards, the last thing she expected was that they would nominate her.
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Georgie was even more surprised she had made it to the top five for NSW 'Volunteer Director of the Year'.
But for anyone who knows the backstory of the Narooma Mountain Bike Trails, and the vision that was brought to life by Georgie and her husband Dave O'Brien, there's no doubt she's a strong contender.
It's lore among the mountain biking community that without Georgie there would not be the 85 kilometres of glorious track through state forest out the back of Narooma.
With the establishment of Gravity Eden and the soon to be completed Mogo Trails, the Far South Coast was shaping up to be a mountain biking destination hot spot, not just statewide but nationally and internationally.
Of course this was always the plan for Narooma business woman and local Georgie, who witnessed first hand the impact of Black Summer and COVID on the small tourist-dependent town.
"We had seen what had happened when the bushfires, and COVID, had taken out our January money, we saw the devastation that caused. To have something that is going to make the town a little bit more profitable year round was really the driving force," she said.
"And we wanted to share how much we enjoyed mountain biking as well."
Georgie and Dave were keen bike tourers, travelling through South East Asia back in the early 2000s.
It was while they were in Burma they met an American adventure tourist who suggested on their next visit to Las Vegas, where Georgie did business, they should give mountain biking a go.
In the US they witnessed the infancy of the mountain bike explosion. They observed how small towns that had lost their primary industries, such as logging or fruit orchards, were turning the tide of their loss by embracing adventure sport.
Georgie remembered the town of Oakridge in Oregon.
When Dave and Georgie first visited the town there was one place to stay and one place to eat, but the riding was "fantastic". She recalled the difference a number of years later.
"We went back about three years later and we had three or four places to eat, more places to stay - a year-round bike shop, it was crazy to see the difference, and we saw this repeatedly," she said.
"Probably about 2010, the explosion of mountain biking was just happening."
We sort of thought there would be some uptake, but by no means did we think it would be as big as what it is.
- Georgie Staley
She explained that the New Zealand adventure tourist industry was also inspirational, particularly in the management and maintenance of their adventure infrastructure.
Although the Narooma club received $3.9 million from a Bushfire Local Economic Recovery Fund grant, co-funded by the federal and NSW governments, to build the trails, the maintenance costs and permits to Forestry Corporation NSW remain with the Narooma Mountain Bike Club.
The club collects donations at the trailhead from visitors and donations may be made on the club website. Commercial operators also pay per rider towards the permit costs.
Additionally the local business community was supportive, but Georgie and Dave's intent was to give back to these communities, so they would like to see a more viable plan in place for ongoing maintenance costs.
More than four months since the official opening of the trails, Georgie said the uptake of mountain biking among the local community had surpassed her expectations greatly and she was delighted.
"What blows my mind more than anything is the amount of local people that are out there riding - it's just crazy," she said.
"We sort of thought there would be some uptake, but by no means did we think it would be as big as what it is."
Georgie remained clear in her intent that she and Dave wish to share their love of the trails with as many people as possible, while giving back to their community.
The 2024 NSW Community Sports Awards will be announced at a ceremony Wednesday, June 19 at CommBank Stadium in Sydney.
